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7/10/2013

Gwangju-born Master of Modern Korean Verse, Jeong So-pa Passes Away

Gwangju-born Jeong So-pa, a poet is considered a master of the modern Korean Verse passed away yesterday at the age of 101.Born in Sa-dong in Gwangju in 1912, Jeong studied at Songjeong Public School in Gwangju and graduated from Waseda University in Japan.His career in Korean Verse or Si-jo in Korean, began in 1930 when he was 18 years old and his poem was selected as the winner of the prestigious annual Spring Literary Awards in Korean Verse in 1957.In the same year, he won the President’s Award in Korean Verse at the Essay Contest held in commemoration of Korea’s independence from Japanese occupation.Late Jeong So-pa played a crucial role in advocating Korean traditional verse of Si-jo in the modern era with the publication of a collection of Korean Verses such as ‘Sanchang Diary’ and ‘Village’, and ‘Jeong So-pa's Children’s Korean Verse’.